White House Daily Briefing

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary

December 5, 2000

PRESS BRIEFING BY JAKE SIEWERT

The James S. Brady Briefing Room

11:40 A.M. EST

Q: Jake, China has decided to abstain in the Security Council vote on
the new sanctions that the United States and Russia would like to
apply to Afghanistan, particularly to the Taliban. Could you react to
that decision by the Chinese government and explain what the U.S.
government hopes to achieve with these sanctions?

MR. SIEWERT: Well, we expect that resolution will be introduced
shortly and that we will press for its passage. This is an important
piece of our strategy, to ensure that the Taliban complies with U.N.
Resolution 1267, and we're going to keep pressing them to do that. As
I told you last week, this is designed in part to ensure that the
Taliban treat the citizens of Afghanistan better; in part to ensure
that they close their terrorist camps; and in part to ensure that
Osama bin Laden is brought to justice. But I don't have any specific
comment on the decision of other Security Council members and how they
voted.

END 12:09 P.M. EST

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